Savannah Irishmen of a certain age remember going to door-to-door to raise funds for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The holiday march was more exercise than event back then. Local Irish families saw the tour de downtown as a celebration of their heritage and a salute to a community so welcoming to their ancestors. Whether the crowd numbered 400 or 400,000 mattered not.

Fast forward several decades. The last two parades, both staged on Saturdays, drew half-a-million revelers each.

Naturally, many paradegoers talked about how great it is to have the parade on Saturday, when nobody has to take off work on parade day or to accommodate the next morning hangover and when the business community, particularly the hotels, restaurants and bars, can reap the biggest windfalls.

Those conversations inevitably lead to the following question: Why not have the parade on the closest Saturday to St. Patrick’s Day every year?

The answer is one most us need to heed and respect: It’s not our parade.

“Tradition, that’s why not,” one past grand marshal saidSaturday afternoon while resting at the parade’s end in Madison Square. “You don’t celebrate the Fourth of July on a Saturday when it’s not on a Saturday, you celebrate it on July 4.”

The date, March 17, is more than a block on the calendar to Savannah’s Irish, and they’ll move their event only at the insistence of the Almighty — God, not the dollar.

Good for them.

Tradition worth protecting

Traditions resemble promises all too often these days.

They are made to be broken.

Some traditions needed to be snapped, like the pope being a non-European (the original pope and his mentor were likewise not from the continent, lest we forget) and Augusta National Golf Club opening up its membership to women. Others, like not playing college football under the Friday night lights and holding off on Day after Thanksgiving sales until the day after Thanksgiving, should have been protected.

Staging the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on St. Patrick’s Day deserves sacred status.

This year marked the bicentennial of the local parade. The Hibernian Society of Savannah staged a private march in 1813. The parades held since haven’t always been held on March 17, but organizers have never moved it arbitrarily for convenience sake or financial gains.

The parade moves dates only when March 17 falls on Sunday or during Easter week.

Another consideration surrounds the date: The schedule, along with the makeup of the parade participants, is about all organizers control in Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

The city has gradually exercised its authority over St. Patrick’s Day operations. The city installed barricades along the parade route. The city implemented the 6 a.m. rule for setting up in the squares. The city mandated wristbands for alcohol consumption at the post-parade party. The city forced port-a-potties onto trailers and truck beds.

The city won’t push for a Saturday parade every year, though. The city needs the parade much more than the parade needs the city, and there’s a thick line between monitoring and meddling.

And as one tuckered out parade marcher said following Saturday’s parade, the Irish are as stubborn as they are proud.

Self-made parade

Organizers should be proud of their parade.

They have grown the event into a true spectacle while still respecting their roots, in much the same way the krewes have Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Once the committee found a steady revenue source — a program book filled with advertising — and no longer had to raise money door to door, they elected to reinvest those funds.

They hired bands. They reached out to other crowd-pleasers, such as the Budweiser Clydesdales. As interest grew, they began to generate funds through applications. Today, demand outstrips supply — and that’s with more than 300 entries.

Yet the families still march. Past grand marshals and dignitaries still get spots of honor. And there are no sacred cows — just ask the Shriners or any other outside group that has run afoul of the parade committee over the years.

All as it should be.

The Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade belongs to Savannah’s Irish, and they are kind enough to share it with the rest of us. For that, we should be thankful — even when March 17 falls on a day other than Saturday or Sunday.

Adam Van Brimmer’s column appears each Monday. He blogs several days a week at www.savannahnow.com and also is a social media regular @avanbrimmer on Twitter and Daddy Warbucks on Facebook.

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Maybe that's because they have already tried unsuccessfully back during the reign of Rousakis. John never was one to pass up a good chance to make more money for his beloved Savannah. He didn't take kindly to being told a flat "no" by the Parade Committee. The city responded with more car towings than ever before and other shenanigans. There was a severe backlash which resulted in city apologies and amnesty for the towees. Go Irish!

Good article and John Rousakis was a good mayor. He just needed to be reminded it's not the cities parade although all are invited to enjoy the festivities.

The parade is an event managed, promoted and sponsored by the Irish community in Savannah. The rest of the city participates in the festivities and local businesses reap the economic benefits. If the Irish say the parade remains on the 17th, that's how it should be. And if the Augusta National membership says it remains all male, that's how it should be (yes two females were admitted in 2012). I don't understand people who think they have the right to demand anything of a private organization. Should the Italian Club admit Germans, or the German Country Club to admit Irish, or the Irish Societies admit Scots? Should a sorority admit men? Why can't people just mind their own business?

I agree with all that you have said. As a point of clarification, the St. Patrick's Day Parade is under the sole guidance of the Parade Committee Chairman and his staff. The Parade Committee has both both Irish and non Irish Members. To serve as Grand Marshall, you must be of Irish descent. The Grand Marshall is elected by all members but the functioning of the parade ie the route, who participates, monitoring the units etc. is run by the hardworking Chairman and staff. Hint: serving as Parade Chairman is a giant step towards becoming Grand Marshall at some point down the road.

FDR had a "reign" of four elected terms as president. After FDR, presidents were limited to two terms. This does not diminish FDR's accomplishment as president and the fact that terms were limited after Rousakis does not diminish his tenure either.